Georgia teen killed by police was holding a Wii remote, not a gun, family says

A 17-year-old high school student who wanted to be a US Marine was fatally shot by Georgia police officers who mistook the video game controller in his hand for a weapon, the lawyer representing his family says.

Christopher Roupe was preparing to watch a movie when two police
officers showed up at the door to execute a probation violation
against his father, according to his family.

Euharlee Police Chief Terry Hagert also stated that two officers
arrived at the home on Friday night. When Roupe answered the
door, the female officer believed he was pointing a gun at her
and fired a single shot at the young man. The police refused to
reveal the names of the officers that responded to the scene.

Roupe was a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC)
in high school and has friends who he helped at school.

“He was a good kid. He always hung out with me and he took up
for me,” friend William Corson told WSB-TV.

A funeral for Roupe is scheduled for Friday, just one day before
what would have been his 18th birthday. The young man planned to
join the Marines after graduating from high school.

“This is tragic. She came out of this house. She put her head
in her hands and she was sobbing,” he said. “Supposedly,
he opened the door with a BB gun.”

Chief Harget declined to identify the officer involved in order
to protect her privacy, but referred all questions to the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation, which is running the probe into the
incident. The officer has been placed on administrative leave –
the standard measure when an officer is involved in a shooting.

Roupe’s family plans to file a lawsuit against the department,
with attorney Cole Law saying the story simply “doesn’t add
up.”

“We don’t know where that statement came from,” he said.
“The eyewitness on the scene clearly stated that he had a Wii
controller in his hand. He heard a knock at the door. He asked
who it was, there was no response so he opened the door and upon
opening the door he was immediately shot in the chest.”

Euharleee is a bedroom community of Cartersville, Georgia, with a
population of under 5,000 people at the time of the 2010 US
Census. Roupe was a senior at Woodland High School.